The Rumpus, an online culture and arts magazine, asks Riverhead author Doug Dorst about his pre-writing rituals, his impulse to experiment with form, and his favorite piece from his new short story collection The Surf Guru. The Surf Guru was The Rumpus Book Club’s pick for July. More…
The Boston Globe writes, "Following his highly acclaimed 2008 debut novel, Alive in Necropolis, Doug Dorst pulls off another literary feat: a sophomore work of fiction that both highlights his gifts and extends his range successfully into the short-story genre. Like his first book, The Surf Guru traffics heavily in magic realism, blending gritty, slice-of-life vignettes with elements of light fantasy." More...
The Surf Guru is a new collection of short stories from Doug Dorst, author of the acclaimed novel Alive in Necropolis. The New York Times Sunday Book Review writes, “All of Dorst’s stories brim with gumption. They’re fun-loving, testosterone-rich yarns. And while his book is an amalgam of voices, moods, styles and forms…the stories speak to an important literary pursuit: that of pushing limits, of embracing challenge, no matter the gharials at your toes.” What’s a gharial, you ask? Just look to Dorst’s sly, serpentine piece “Little Reptiles.” More…
The Austin Chronicle sits down with Doug Dorst to discuss his new short story collection The Surf Guru, which the newspaper calls “electric” and “deeply imaginative.” In the interview, Dorst explains the eclectic origins of his stories, from two screwball friends who spawned “Vikings” to the sound of the word “bloomslang,” Dorst’s inspiration for “Little Reptiles.” More…
Recently Rosecrans Baldwin (author of the forthcoming You Lost Me There, August 2010), Sloane Crosley, Doug Dorst, and Nathaniel Rich wrote for Significant Objects, a website where talented, creative writers invent a story about an object. “Invested with new significance by this fiction, the object should — according to our hypothesis — acquire not merely subjective but objective value. How to test our theory? Via eBay!” Significant Objects just released a comprehensive rundown of every story written for the project (100 in total), ranked by final selling price, and Doug Dorst was on top! Check out the ranking here.
The San Francisco Chronicle talks to Doug Dorst, whose first novel, Alive in Necropolis, was San Francisco’s 2009 One City One Book choice. If Dorst’s house was on fire and he could only grab one thing it would be “The dog - Sancho. He's some weird herding mix sorta thing. But assuming he could run out on his own, then I'd take my computer. It has all my stuff on it.” Read more about Dorst’s life here.
Doug Dorst, author of Alive in Necropolis, writes about a Russian figurine for Significant Objects — a website where talented, creative writers invent a story about an object. “Invested with new significance by this fiction, the object should — according to our hypothesis — acquire not merely subjective but objective value. How to test our theory? Via eBay!” Dorst attests that this is an icon of the fourteenth-century saint Vralkomir of Dnobst, the patron saint of extremely fast dancing. Read more.
Doug Dorst's Alive in Necropolis and Beatrice Colin's The Glimmer Palace make it onto The New York Times' Paperback Row. Check out why you should read these books.
